Press Clippings

October 5, 2004 - Berkshire Eagle: Bouton, Elitzer strike out with panel By D.R. Bahlman

PITTSFIELD -- The Parks Commission last night declined to endorse a proposed agreement between the city and Wahconah Park Inc., the South County partnership that plans to renovate the historic ballpark. The panel's decision to refer the document to Mayor James M. Ruberto for review was met with angry grumbling from members of the audience, which included investors in the private partnership.

"Cowards," said one man as he left the commission's meeting room at Springside House.

"Well, this is the end," said another.

During an occasionally contentious meeting, Wahconah Park Inc. partners Jim Bouton of North Egremont and Donald B. "Chip" Elitzer of Great Barrington urged the commission to send a message to Ruberto: It supports the partnership's efforts to transform Wahconah Park into a major tourist attraction. Muster public opinion

"We're not asking for your approval -- not asking you to sign it," said Elitzer. "We're asking that you recommend or endorse the agreement to the mayor for his signature."

Elitzer declared last night that an impasse exists between the partnership and city officials over the terms of a revised agreement, and that the only hope of breaking it lies in mustering public opinion in favor of a pact that Elitzer said will ex-empt the project from public bidding laws.

"Should Wahconah Park Inc. be subject to public bidding law?" he said.

"We ... push that question into the hands of the Parks Commission and the City

Council because the mayor has said there is no way, no how" he will sign an agreement that does not bring the project under the public bidding law. The renovation has stalled because Wahconah Park Inc. and city officials differ over conclusions reached in a 15-page summary that the state attorney general's office released last month. It suggests that Wahconah Park Inc. must follow state public bidding laws in any construction projects associated with its plans to renovate the ballpark.

Time running short
Last night, the partners cast the disagreement in stark terms, contending that investors will be scared away from a venture whose flexibility and cash flow are impeded by the requirements of the law. In addition, said Bouton, officials of the Northeast League have indicated that the partners have only a few weeks at the most to register a team for an open franchise slot. Any delay could open the door for another team owner to successfully bid for the slot.

The partners announced last night that they will form a team to be called the Pittsfield Owls; they distributed graphic representations of the logo of the team, which Bouton said is named for the replicas of owls that hang in the grandstand in Wahconah Park to scare pigeons away.

"Time is of the essence," said Bouton, who became visibly angry at one point when it appeared that the commission did not plan to allow members of the audience to make comments.

"You will listen to us for one more hour," he said.

Time invested
The partners' friends and families have invested countless hours in the Wahconah Park project, said Bouton, who recalled seeing "Chip Elitzer on his hands and knees vacuuming a room in Wahconah Park that hadn't been cleaned in 30 years."

"We've pledged our time, our paychecks, our careers," he said.

One investor in Wahconah Park Inc., Howard Kronson, traveled from Boston to address the commission, said Bouton.

The former New York Yankees pitcher urged the commission not to "table" the proposed document. Rather, he said, the panel should take a stand.

"Everyone is willing to pass it on to someone else," he said. "... Let them know how you feel. ... We didn't table the Hillies, we didn't table ESPN."

15-year lease Bouton referred to a four-hour national telecast of a vintage baseball game between the Pittsfield Hillies and the Hartford Senators last summer.

The proposed agreement, which Elitzer said was "co-authored" by him and City Solicitor Christopher Speranzo, would address the attorney general's concerns and ex-empt the project from public bidding because it would increase the original length of the pact from 18 months to 15 years, a change that also converts the agreement from a license to a lease.

The revised document also changes the initial amount of investment Wahconah Park Inc. planned to put into park renovations from $1.5 million to "any amount" allowed under the case law referred to in the attorney general's summary, Elitzer has said.

Last night, Elitzer repeated his contention that although the proposed document has been discussed -- and essentially agreed upon -- in Ruberto's presence, the mayor will not endorse it publicly because he is trying to "curry favor" with municipal unions, more than a dozen of which are, or soon will be, in negotiations with the city.

"There is no collective bargaining unit that has contacted my office and linked successful negotiations to my position on the public bidding laws," Ruberto has said. "I want every collective bargaining unit to hear that I am going to respect the attorney general's position because I respect the right to organize."

Request from Ruberto
The attorney general's investigation followed a protest filed in June by the New England Council of Carpenters, Local 108, over the bidding process for construction at Wahconah Park. The timing of the protest has delayed the start of park renovations until after the first of the year.

Early in the meeting, Speranzo addressed the commission and passed along a request from Ru-berto that the proposed agreement be tabled or referred back to the mayor.

"This is not the proper forum to negotiate a license agreement," Speranzo said. "Negotiating contracts is a purview of the mayor. ... He asks that you respect the process.

" Speranzo also said that news reports have exaggerated the width of the gap between the positions of the parties.

"This is not over," he said. "This is something that should be occurring in another venue."

Four of the five park commissioners, Eugene Nadeau, the panel's chairman; Michael Filpi, John Marchesi and Eleanor Persip said they would go along with Speranzo's request, although Persip characterized the situation as "unfortunate."

"Someone has made a great effort to try to make Wahconah Park Inc. fail," she said.

Parks Commission member Charles P. Garivaltis, who cast the lone vote against referring the contract back to the mayor, said that his vote was "for what I hope will be baseball in Pittsfield."